System and method for providing a proxied contact management system

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing a Proxied Contact Management System (PCMS) so that individual owners of personal contact data may control and manage the access and dissemination of their personal data and also control who may contact them. The owner of personal contact data may securely register the data with a secured information vault of the PCMS and specify which other parties may contact them. In this way, duplication of the personal data is avoided, but at the same time is always current. In use, a second party&#39;s device, such as a telephone or a PDA may request that the PCMS, under public key infrastructure (PKI) control, establish a connection with the first party. Once verified, the PCMS may establish a proxy connection between the first and second parties according to the permitted mode of communication defined by criteria established by the first party and managed by the PCMS. In this way, personal contact information, such as a telephone number, is kept secure and private and not provided to the second party.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.10/965,592 (IBM Docket END 920040055 US1) filed Oct. 14, 2004, which isnow incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

DESCRIPTION Field of the Invention

The invention generally relates to a system and method for a proxiedcontact management system and, more particularly, to a system and methodfor sharing personal information with others via a proxied contactmanagement system employing an information vault.

Currently, contact management is typically accomplished by duplicatingpersonal contact information of people that an individual maintains inmany places including telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs),web based contact lists and personal computers (PCs), or the like. Thismay be both a privacy issue (e.g., exposing personal information offriends/contacts if the data is lost) and a dataentering/duplication/maintenance issue, e.g., a user must typicallyenter the data in all the different devices and keep it updated. Assuch, there exists no general, secure mechanism for someone to sharetheir personal contact-list type information (i.e., personal data) withothers that would keep them from losing it, sharing it, duplicating it,or allowing it to get out of date.

In addition, there is no general, secure mechanism to enforce theexpectation that only those chosen to receive one's contact informationare actually the people that are permitted or desired to contact you. Inother words, if a telephone number is provided to someone, even in asecure way, once they have the information they could give it to someoneelse who could violate the original intentions and trusts and use theinformation to call the original owner of the data.

Further, there is no apparent way to enable a financial transactionbased on the contact information, thus, it is not possible to incurfinancial remuneration or a transaction fee for having received and/orused the contact information. This possible loss or sharing of yourpersonal information and/or the loss of the contact remuneration maymean loss of privacy and the possibility of being subject to spam(undesired or unrequested communications), telemarketing calls, junkfaxes, etc. from strangers who may contact the original owner of theinformation at will with no monetary remuneration.

Contact lists such as Outlook contacts databases, and Yahoo contactsdatabases, all typically store personal contact information of contactsin their databases, either locally and/or centrally. Simply being storedvery often results in the data being compromised by security failures inall the various storage or communication infrastructures that may beinvolved. In addition, there is no way for an individual to providetheir contact information to someone in a way that would prevent thatperson from giving it away to others.

Contact mechanisms such as email, telephone, instant messaging (IM), orthe like all require a public knowledge of the addressing mechanisminvolved in the system (e.g., telephone numbers, email address, userIDs,etc). As long as the addressing mechanism involves public knowledge,then there will typically be the potential for security and privacyabuse.

A mechanism and/or process is needed to ensure that only those chosen tobe able to contact an owner of contact information can do so and thatthe mechanism or process works in such a way that it cannot be usurpedby someone else. Further, the operation should function in a way thatallows for financial remunerations, particularly for commercial use ofthe contact information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an aspect of the invention, a method of managing communications isprovided. The method comprises the steps of depositing personal contactdata of a first party into a secured proxied contact management system(PCMS) and identifying at least one entity to the secure PCMS to enableproxied communications by the at least one entity to the first party.Further included are the steps of specifying indicia to control accessto the personal contact data and establishing or denying the proxiedcommunications to the first party from the at least one entity based onthe indicia.

In another aspect of the invention, a method of providing communicationsis provided. The method comprises the steps of requesting a connectionto a first party by a second party at a PCMS by submitting a public keyto identify the first party, validating whether the second party ispermitted to contact the first party by using the public key to locateindicia associated with the first party and if permitted, establishingcommunications between the first party and the second party whilepreventing the second party from receiving any information regardingcontact information of the first party.

In another aspect of the invention, a proxied contact management system(PCMS) is provided. The PCMS comprises a data storage medium whichsecurely contains personal contact information and a contact informationstorage system which securely stores the personal contact information ofa first user of a plurality of users. Further, the PCMS comprises acontact information accessing system which accesses the contactinformation when a request is made by a second user of the plurality ofusers, wherein the accessing is controlled based upon an identificationof the first user and a connection control system which establishes,maintains and releases a connection between the first user of aplurality of users and the second user of the plurality of users basedupon indicia associated with the first user.

In another aspect of the invention, a computer program productcomprising a computer usable medium having readable program codeembodied in the medium is provided. The computer program productincludes at least one component to deposit personal contact data of afirst party into a secured proxied contact management system (PCMS) andidentify at least one entity to the secure PCMS to enable proxiedcommunications by the at least one entity to the first party. Furtherprovided is the at least one component to specify indicia to controlaccess to the personal contact data and to establish or deny the proxiedcommunications to the first party from the at least one entity based onthe indicia.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the system ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a swim lane diagram showing steps of an embodiment of creatinga user account, according to the invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are swim lane diagrams showing steps of an embodiment ofchanging information in the PCMS, according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a swim lane diagram of an embodiment showing steps of an ownerrevoking contact permission, according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a swim lane diagram of an embodiment showing steps ofterminating service of the PCMS for a user, according to the invention;and

FIGS. 6A and 6B are swim lane diagrams of an embodiment showing steps ofestablishing PCMS connections, according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

This invention is generally directed to a system and method forproviding a proxied contact management system (PCMS) based on a contactmanagement system (CMS) and information vault so that individual ownersof contact information may securely control and manage the access anduse of the contact information by other users via pre-definedarrangements. “Proxied” includes services or functions supplied by anentity or person on behalf of another entity or person. Also, the systemand method may also provide for the owner of the personal data toreceive compensation for the use of the contact information.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the system ofthe invention, generally denoted by reference numeral 100. The proxiedcontact management system (PCMS) 100 includes a secured informationvault 105 which may include one or more databases controlled by one ormore servers perhaps with extensive security control layers. An exampleof a secured vault may be found in copending application Ser. No.10/965,592 (IBM disclosure END920040055US1).

Also included are vault services 110 for accessing and updating thevault 105, one or more data objects 115 such as files containing contactmanagement control data, telephone numbers, birthday information, familynames, email addresses, or other personal data. The system may alsoinclude devices used by users of the vault who may employ computers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), telephones, or the like. Examplesmay include a first party personal computer 120, a first party cellphone 125, a second party personal computer 130 and a second party cellphone 135.

The information vault 105 (or simply vault) of the PCMS 100 may alsoemploy a third party authentication authority 140 for verifying andauthentication parties involved with any vault transaction. An exampleof third party authentication may be found in copending patentapplication Ser. No. 10/965,592 (IBM disclosure END920040055US1),incorporated by reference, herein. The PCMS 100 may also include adatabase for logging ongoing vault transactions for recording anyactivity such as accesses or proxied contact management connections 145,150, described more fully below.

The vault 105 also provides for personal contact information to beuploaded to it by the owner (e.g., via first party personal computer120) and may be protected by a public key infrastructure (PKI) basedaccess control system that controls access to the stored data by peoplewho have been granted that privilege. The vault services 110 are builton the vault's secure storage to allow users to create accounts, depositthe contact information, and read, update or remove the information.Information may be stored in the vault encrypted by the vault andoptionally, users may encrypt the information with their own privatekey. In addition, vault services 110 are provided to also allow a userto specify conditions, in a secure way via technologies of the existingPKI, so that a second party may only perform certain types ofcommunications when contacting the owner. All accesses typically use thefirst and second party's public keys as identification.

Additionally, the vault 105 may be provisioned with a financial backend160, perhaps by network connection. The financial backend 160 mayexecute financial transactions such as debit or credits for the contactinformation owner or information user's financial bank accounts.

The PCMS 100 employs a secure Contact Management System (CMS) 116. Asecure CMS 116 allows contact information owners and users to exchangetheir contact information in a secure way. An example of a secure CMSmay be found in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ (IBMdisclosure END820030253), incorporated by reference herein.

A PKI based vault (e.g., vault 105) stores contact information andserves to proxy actual contacts. Thus, the PCMS is authorized to act ona user's behalf and field all contact attempts to reach the user. Uponfielding a contact attempt, the PCMS verifies that an owner (e.g., thefirst party) of the contact information has authorized that person(e.g., a second party) to contact the first party via the PCMS. The PCMScontacts the first party via the same mechanism used by the originatingsecond party (e.g., a phone call, an email, a FAX, or the like) and thenenables the connection to be sustained until complete. The enablement ofthe connection, i.e., the proxied connection 145 or 150, may be adifferent technological implementation for each different contact type(e.g., FAX, email, phone, page, instant messaging, etc.) and may beimplemented with electronic computing systems, networks, and/or InternetProtocols that exist today. In addition, the PCMS may maintain contactremuneration information about the authorized contact so that a fee maybe charged to a commercial contactor (or other entity) for the right ofthe contact.

Users of the PCMS would typically have digital certificates and publickeys which may be the basis for implementing shared contact information.For example, if an owner of contact information chooses to share thecontact information with a friend so that the friend could call theowner (or email, FAX, IM, or other communication mode), the owner mayadd their public key to the vault 105 and grant access at the vault forthe friend to contact the owner by telephone. The owner's telephonenumber would be stored only in the owner's vault account, and never inany other device, such as the friend's phone. Instead, only the owner'spublic key would be stored in the friend's device. In this way, theowner's contact information is securely maintained as private and avoidsdisclosing direct contact information such as phone numbers, emailaddresses, or the like.

Thereafter, when using the device, the friend's device(s) authenticatesthe friend as a valid user of the device (e.g., via digital certificateand/or pass phrase). The devices know how to automatically locate andaccess the vault when a contact attempt is initiated, e.g., apredetermined network address previously stored in the devices. Uponreceiving a request and the public key of the called party from thefriend's device, the vault 105 then acts as a proxy, e.g., using voiceover internet protocol (VOIP) technologies and a “telephone number”(alternatively, an “addressing identifier”) scheme that uses the dialedperson's public key. In one application, the vault verifies the that thefriend has the “calling” level of contact permission, i.e., the friendmay indeed make this type of contact (such as a telephone call), andthen, instead of returning a phone number to the friend, the vaultinitiates a call to the called party and acts as the go between, orproxy, (using VOIP switching technologies). The vault completes theproxied connection (e.g., 145 or 150) depending on type of technologyinvolved for the contact, and allows the “call” to proceed. The vaultmay also restrict access per predefined time of day, day of week, orother called-party enabled features that may temporarily restrict/blockcalling.

Other personal contact mechanisms may be proxied in similar fashions.For example, emails may be sent to the information vault first,addressed to the addressee via the addressee's public key such as, forexample, “pk1as3df3fas4ggnyo79988dsmansna8uudy@vaultaddress” anddigitally signed by the sender's private key so that the PCMS may beassured as to the sender's authenticity. The PCMS may also verify thatthe sender has email permission to contact the addressee. If the senderhas been given email access to the addressee, the PCMS may proceed toplace the email into the addressee's vault email box.

In this manner, the system and method of the invention thus providesadvantages which include, but not limited only to these examples:

-   -   Elimination of telemarketing calls.    -   Elimination of spam email.    -   Elimination of spam instant messaging.    -   Elimination of junk faxes.    -   Elimination of junk spam text messages.    -   Elimination of spam video messages.    -   Ensuring that a granted contact to one entity does not        facilitate giving private information to anyone else or permits        transferring the right to someone else.    -   Ensuring that an owner's telephone number is not compromised if        the granted user loses their device. That is, anyone finding the        user's device (e.g., a phone) is not able to use it without        access to the digital certificate authentication.    -   Ensuring that the user always obtains the owner's correct (e.g.,        current due to any changes) telephone number, email address, or        the like.    -   Ensuring that the owner of the contact information may be paid        for a commercial contact using the PCMS per pre-established        agreements.    -   Controlling when and where communications may be made.

With this approach, the user/owner provides the second party permissionupon a request, to read an agreed upon set of personal information suchas phone numbers, names, addresses, or the like. As the information isthereafter always available to the second party (at least untilcancellation or recasting of the permissions), there is no longer anyneed for the second party to store the user's personal informationwithin its own databases or devices. As a trusted third party forinformation, then, the PCMS 100 significantly contributes to theelimination of the escalating dangers of identity theft andsignificantly reduces the need for duplicate copies of information.

Thus, the system and method of the invention provides for many contactmechanisms to be proxied, thus ensuing privacy and more rigorous controlof personal contact information. These contact mechanisms that may beproxied include, but are not limited to, email, telephone (includingvoice-over-IP and cell phones), instant message, text message, fax, andvideo phone. Essentially, any communication may be proxied wherein thecontact mechanism is deliverable over the Internet (or any similarnetwork) via IP protocols (or similar protocols) and subject to digitalsigning and encryption mechanisms of the PCMS.

The following provides additional aspects associated with certainproxied communications:

Email:

-   -   To proxy the email type contact, users may be given mail boxes        on the PCMS. Email senders may send email to the PCMS domain        addressed to the receiver's (addressee's) public key. When        verified by the PCMS, the email may be placed in the receiver's        mailbox. The body of the email would typically be digitally        signed with the sender's private key and verified (for having        been signed by the sender and not having been changed enroute)        by the PCMS using the sender's public key. The email may also be        encrypted with the destination's public key to keep anyone else        from reading the email enroute.

Telephone:

-   -   To proxy the telephone type contact, Voice over IP (VOIP)        switching technologies may be utilized by the PCMS to take IP        based telecommunications from IP based telephones or devices and        implement the proxied connection. Calls may be prefaced with        digitally signed authentication protocols and encrypted with the        public keys. The VOIP messages would typically all be digitally        signed with the sender's private key and verified (for having        been signed by the sender and not having been changed enroute)        by the PCMS using the sender's public key. The VOIP messages may        also be encrypted with the destination's public key to keep        anyone else from listening to the conversion enroute.

Instant Messaging (IM):

-   -   To proxy the IM type contact, users may be given IM accounts on        the PCMS. IM clients may send messages to the PCMS domain        addressed to the receiver's public key. When verified by the        PCMS, the IM may be passed on to the receiver's IM client. The        body of the IM may also be digitally signed with the sender's        private key and verified (for having been signed by the sender        and not having been changed enroute) by the PCMS using the        sender's the public key. The IM may also be encrypted with the        destination's public key to keep anyone else from reading the IM        enroute.

Text Messaging (TM):

-   -   To proxy the TM type contact, users may be given TM accounts on        the PCMS. TM clients may send messages to the PCMS domain        addressed to the receiver's public key. When verified by the        PCMS, the TM may be passed on to the receiver. The body of the        TM may be digitally signed with the sender's private key and        verified (for having been signed by the sender and not having        been changed enroute) by the PCMS using the sender's public key.        The TM may also be encrypted with the destination's public key        to keep anyone else from reading the TM enroute.

Fax:

-   -   To proxy the facsimile (fax) type contact, users may be given        fax accounts on the PCMS. Fax machines would have to be changed        to accept users' digital certificates and may then send faxes to        the PCMS domain addressed to the receiver's public key. When        verified by the PCMS, the fax may be passed on to the receiver        (i.e., addressee). The body of the fax may be digitally signed        with the sender's private key and verified (for having been        signed by the sender and not having been changed enroute) by the        PCMS using the sender's the public key. The fax may also be        encrypted with the destination's public key to keep anyone else        from reading the fax enroute.

Videophone:

-   -   To proxy the Videophone type contact, Video over IP switching        technologies may be utilized by the PCMS to take IP based        telecommunications from IP based video telephones and implement        the proxied connection. Calls may be prefaced with digitally        signed authentication protocols and encrypted with the        destination's public key. The videophone messages may all be        digitally signed with the sender's private key and verified (for        having been signed by the sender and not having been changed        enroute) by the PCMS using the sender's the public key. The        video phone messages may also be encrypted with the        destination's public key to keep anyone else from reading the IM        enroute.

Examples of Using the Invention

FIG. 2 is a swim lane diagram showing steps of an embodiment of acreating a user account. “Swim lane” diagrams may be used to show therelationship between the various “actors” in the processes and to definethe steps involved in the processes. FIG. 2 (and all the other swim lanefigures) may equally represent a high-level block diagram of componentsof the invention implementing the steps thereof. The steps of FIG. 2(and all the other Figures employing swim lane diagrams) may beimplemented on computer program code in combination with the appropriatehardware. This computer program code may be stored on storage media suchas a diskette, hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or tape, as well as a memorystorage device or collection of memory storage devices such as read-onlymemory (ROM) or random access memory (RAM). Additionally, the computerprogram code can be transferred to a workstation over the Internet orsome other type of network. The steps of FIG. 2 (and the other swim laneFigures) may also be implemented by the embodiment of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, four swim lanes are shown including a lane for aPCMS 100, a user device 202, a first party 204 and a second party 206.At step 210, a second party may apply for an information vault accountin the PCMS 100. At step 215, a first party may apply for an informationvault account. At step 220, the PCMS 100 via information vault servicecreates one or more user accounts by processing and authenticating theapplicant(s). An example of this may be found in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/964,876 (IBM Docket END920040080US1).

At step 225, the PCMS 100 may dialogue with each of the user(s) to setup their contact information in the vault. The contact information mayinclude personal names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers,paging numbers, IM identifiers, user identifiers, or other similarcontact information. This dialog is typically performed for every ownerand user independently, with each user and owner separately supplyingtheir own contact information.

At step 230, the first party owner specifies their contact information.Likewise, at step 235, the second party user specifies their contactinformation. At step 240, the PCMS stores each user's contactinformation in their vault account, typically encrypted. A fee may alsobe charged for the transaction. At step 245, an account for each usermay be stored in an appropriate database (e.g., database 246) typicallyserved and managed by a server with adequate security controls andbackup. At step 250, the first party may logoff. At step 255, the secondparty may logoff. The accounts are created and the contact informationis stored in the information vault 105.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are swim lane diagrams showing steps of an embodiment ofchanging information in the PCMS. At step 305, a second party provides afirst party with the second party's public key information. At step 310,upon second party action, the public key of the second party may betransmitted via a browser, PDA, telephone broadcast, or othertransmission for the device in use to a first party. This may alsoinclude an authentication step by the device to authenticate the secondparty. At step 315, a first party receives the second party's public keyfor future use in communicating with the second party. At step 320, thefirst party may choose to reciprocate by transmitting the first party'spublic key to the second party's device. At step 325, the first party'spublic key may be related to the first party's name in a contact list inthe user device.

At step 330, the first party logs into the PCMS. At step 335, the PCMSmay dialog with the first party in order to obtain the second party'spublic key. At step 340, the first party specifies who has permission tomake contact with the first party by providing the public key(s) of anyparty (e.g., second party) that may contact the first party. At step345, the PCMS dialogs with the first party to determine which proxiedcontact modes and mechanisms are permitted for each permitted party(e.g., the second party).

At step 350, the first party may specify which proxied mechanisms ormodes the permitted party or parties (e.g., second party) may be allowedto use in contacting the first party and whether there are to be anyfees involved the contact. Different fees may be applied depending onthe mode of contact. At step 355, the contact permission(s) may bestored in a contact permissions database (e.g., database 360). Inembodiments, a batch file input may also be supported. This may beuseful to supply certain financial transaction oriented contactpermissions where an external “match up” process may input data viabatch mode. At step, 365, the first party may log off the PCMS.

FIG. 4 is a swim lane diagram of an embodiment showing steps of an ownerrevoking contact permission. At step 400, a first party user logs intothe PCMS. At step 405, the PCMS dialogs with the user to obtain a secondparty public key for use in identification of an entity for which one ormore rights are to be revoked. At step 410, the first party specifiesthe entity for revoking one or more rights by supplying a public keyidentifier of the entity. At step 415, the PCMS dialogs with the firstparty to determine which proxied contact mechanisms are to be revokedfor the entity (e.g., a second party). At step 420, the first partyspecifies which proxied contact mechanism or mode is to be revoked (oralternatively, altered to a new mode and/or new restriction applied). Atstep 425, the updated contact permissions may be stored in a contactpermissions database (e.g., database 360) associated with the vault ofthe PCMS. At step 435, the first party may log off. A fee may be chargedfor the revocation or update transaction.

FIG. 5 is a swim lane diagram of an embodiment showing steps ofterminating service of the PCMS for a user. At step 505, a first partymay log into the PCMS. At step 510, the first party may be authenticatedby the PCMS. At step 515, the PCMS presents services that are availableto the first party, perhaps by a graphical user interface (GUI). At step520, the first party may select an option to cancel PCMS service. Atstep 525, the PCMS provides a dialog to manage the cancellation ofservice for the first party.

At step 530, the first party provides requested information to cancelthe service which may include identification, account numbers or paymentof fees. At step 535, the account associated with the first party may bedeleted from the PCMS, or alternatively marked as suspended. At step540, the deletion (or suspension) is applied to the PCMS accountdatabase. A fee may also be charged for the transaction.

FIGS. 6A and 6B is a swim lane diagram of embodiment showing steps ofestablishing PCMS connections. At step 600, a second party logs intotheir user device such as a telephone, PDA, or the like. At step 605,the user device may identify (i.e., verify) the first party by password,pass-phrase, PIN, or a biometric entry, for example. At step 610, apass-phrase, or other identification, may be input by the second partyto the user device. At step 615, the user device verifies theidentification provided by the second party. The process continues basedon the belief that the second party is an appropriate user. The processuses the second party's private key, which is typically embedded in theuser device, for future encryption in communications with the PCMS. Thisdevice may include technologies such as PKI certificates that processpass-phrase challenges or biometrics. The user device may also storenames and public key associations and/or digital signatures. The userdevice may also be technologically capable of communicating over wiredor wireless IP networks to request service from the PCMS network sitewhich may include VOIP protocols.

At step 620, the second party may select a first party's name or otheridentifier from the contact list in the user device. At step 625, thetelephone may select the public key associated with the identified firstparty and send it to the PCMS in a request, asking to be connected tothe first party. The request may be digitally signed by the secondparty's private key, and may be typically encrypted with the vault'spublic key. At step 630, the PCMS authenticates the second party usingthe second party's public key to verify that the digital signature isthe correct signature as encrypted by the second party's private key.

At step 635, the PCMS may initiate a check to verify that the secondparty has access permission to the first party per the mode ofcommunications requested. At step 640, the permissions may be retrievedfrom the vault and verified. At step 645, the PCMS may identify thefirst party's telephone number (or other address, as appropriate) andannounce the call to the first party (e.g., ring the first party) andestablish the connection according to appropriate device and technologyof the select mode of communications. At step 650, optionally, a fee maybe charged for this connection to one or both parties. (Commercialcontacts may be charged different fees from non-commercial connections)At step 655, the fee may be credited to the first party's account, asappropriate. Additionally, a portion of the fee, or an additional fee,may be paid to the PCMS proprietor for services rendered.

At step 660, the PCMS establishes a connection appropriate to the mode,e.g., a telephone call, between the first party and the second party. Inthis embodiment, the PCMS may enable the communications according to thetype of communications being requested. Additionally, the PCMS mayinteract with agents or equipment necessary to effect the communicationsinvolved (such as VOIP enabled switches, routers or cell phoneequipment, just to name a few possibilities) via signaling arrangementsto set-up, establish, control and/or release a proxied connection ormessage. In this manner, controlled access between individuals orentities may be accomplished in a secured mode without compromise ofconfidential personal information.

Another Example of Use

By way of an illustrative example, the invention may establishcommunication between one or more entities in real-time. This type ofcommunication may protect a user's personal contact information by usingvault's PKI based security mechanisms which may require devices likephones, computers, or PDAs to contain embedded PKI digital certificates.

The phone (or other similar device) may authenticate the contactinformation user via a pass-phrase, personal identification number (PIN)or biometric, thus enabling the phone to securely communicate with thePCMS vault. The vault's public key may be used to encrypt communicationto the PCMS. Thus, the PCMS trusts that the correct contact informationuser is at the other end of the communication link and that the messagehas not been compromised in transit.

Once the contact user has logged on to the phone and selected the nameof the person to be called, the phone connects to the PCMS. Thisconnection is secured and the phone may then ask for a connection toanother user. At which time, the PCMS may establish the connection basedon criteria established by the owner of the contact informationassociated with the another user. The telephone may then automaticallyplace a call and establish a connection to both parties, avoidingstoring the telephone number or any returned data in persistenttelephone memory such as disk, CD-ROM, or long term memory (e.g.,EEPROM, FLASH, or the like). This telephone call is illustrative and mayinclude traditional telephone calls, wireless calls, Internet calls,voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) calls, Fax calls, IM calls, paging,or the like. The telephone address may include any number of addressingschemes including traditional telephone numbers or other networkaddresses such as Internet addresses or user IDs.

While the invention has been described in terms of embodiments, thoseskilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practicedwith modifications and in the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of providing proxied communicationsusing a proxied contact management system (PCMS), comprising: requestinga connection to a communication device of a first party by acommunication device of a second party by submitting a public key of thefirst party from the communication device of the second party to thePCMS; retrieving, by the PCMS using the public key of the first party,stored information associated with the first party, the storedinformation including at least one party permitted to contact the firstparty and, for each of the at least one party permitted to contact thefirst party, a time period during which the contact may occur; andverifying that the second party has permission to contact the firstparty based on the retrieved stored information.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein: the requesting a connection includes encrypting a messageusing a public key of the PCMS, and the message is digitally signed bythe second party.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifyingthe second party using at least one of a password, a biometric, and apass-phrase.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored informationdefines an entity that is permitted to make a contact with the firstparty.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising revoking a right ofthe second party to make a contact with the first party.
 6. The methodof claim 1, further comprising, in response to the retrieved storedinformation indicating that the second party is ineligible to contactthe first party, denying the proxied communications.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising, in response to the retrieved storedinformation indicating that the second party is permitted to contact thefirst party, establishing the proxied communications via the PCMSbetween the communication device of the first party and thecommunication device of the second party.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the communication device of the second party is prevented fromreceiving any information regarding contact information including atleast one of a telephone number and an email address of the first party,other than the public key.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingcharging a fee for establishing the proxied communications.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the contact information of the first party isencrypted and associated with the public key of the first party.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, further comprising authenticating the first partyand the second party, and wherein: the stored information includesdefining which modes of communications are assessable by the secondparty; the communication devices of the first party and the second partyare at least any one of a telephone device, a personal digital assistantdevice (PDA), and a computer; and the communication device of the firstparty is configured to avoid storing the contact information of thefirst party in persistent memory.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontact information includes both the telephone number and the emailaddress of the first party, and wherein the communication devices of thefirst party and the second party are at least any one of a telephonedevice, a personal digital assistant device (PDA), and a computer. 13.The method of claim 1, wherein the stored information further includes apublic key of each of the at least one party permitted to contact thefirst party, and wherein the verifying that the second party haspermission to contact the first party based on the retrieved storedinformation comprises determining that a public key of the second partyis included in the retrieved stored information.
 14. A computer programproduct comprising a computer readable storage medium having programinstructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable bya computing device to cause the computing device to: receive a requestfor a connection to a communication device of a first party, from acommunication device of a second party, the request including a publickey of the first party; retrieve stored information associated with thefirst party, the stored information including at least one partypermitted to contact the first party and, for each of the at least oneparty permitted to contact the first party, a permitted mode ofcommunication; and verify that the second party has permission tocontact the first party based on the retrieved stored information. 15.The computer program product of claim 14, the program instructionsfurther causing the computing device to, in response to the retrievedstored information indicating that the second party is ineligible tocontact the first party, deny the proxied communications.
 16. Thecomputer program product of claim 14, the program instructions furthercausing the computing device to, in response to the retrieved storedinformation indicating that the second party is permitted to contact thefirst party, establish the proxied communications between thecommunication device of the first party and the communication device ofthe second party.
 17. The computer program product of claim 14, whereinthe communication device of the second party is prevented from receivingany information regarding contact information including at least one ofa telephone number and an email address of the first party, other thanthe public key.
 18. The computer program product of claim 14, theprogram instructions further causing the computing device to charge afee for establishing the proxied communications.
 19. The computerprogram product of claim 14, wherein the contact information of thefirst party is encrypted and associated with the public key of the firstparty.
 20. A system comprising: a hardware processor, a computerreadable memory, and a computer readable storage medium associated witha computer device; program instructions of a contact information storagesystem configured to store contact information of a first user of aplurality of users; program instructions of a contact informationaccessing system configured to access the contact information inresponse to a request from a second user of the plurality of users,wherein the accessing is controlled based upon an identification of thefirst user; and program instructions of a connection control systemconfigured to establish, maintain, and release a connection between thefirst user of the plurality of users and the second user of theplurality of users based upon stored information including at least oneparty permitted to contact the first party and, for each of the at leastone party permitted to contact the first party, a permitted mode ofcommunication or a time period during which the contact may occur.